Having missed the Tim Burton remake of Planet of the Apes, I went into Rise of the Planet of the Apes only having seen the original movie. The movie trailers made it look interesting and I heard some decent reviews, so we decided to go and see it. Truly, how bad could it be with apes fighting humans? I was surprised. This summer action movie deals more with the drug testing and approval process than it does with ape fighting. I’m surprised that such a low key movie could be a summer blockbuster.So, let’s go visit Caesar and see what makes him rise.

Will (James Franco) is a pharmacy researcher. His current research is in a drug that holds promise to help brain problems such as Alzheimer’s, which has claimed his father (John Lithgow) a former music teacher. His first test monkey is exhibiting great progress and the drug seems to be working, so he is pressing for human trials. His boss Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo) finally agrees to present it to the board of directors. Franklin (Tyler Labine) is the chimp wrangler who is trying to get the chimp out for the meeting, but she’s acting weird. She goes crazy and gets shot by a security guard in the boardroom. Will’s drug is officially dead. But Will, hating to see his father dying steals a few vials of the compound anyways. And then Franklin shows him why the chimp went crazy, she had just given birth. So Will ends up playing Dad to a baby chimp Caesar.

The drug starts working on his father’s problems and Caesar ends up being so smart (for a chimp) that Will decides to keep him. Years later everything is fine except for Will’s neighbor’s hatred of Caesar, but that leads to Will meeting primatologist Caroline (Freida Pinto) and they embark on a relationship. After Will’s father starts having his immune system reject the drug, Caesar makes a mistake and attacks the neighbor. He gets sent to a primate house (ape jail) where he is forced to deal with mostly dumb apes and one orangutan who knows sign language. Caesar’s problems at the primate house lead him to decide to side with apes over humans and he ends up stealing Will’s next generation medicine (which works better on apes, but kills humans).

The end of the movie is where you see most of the clips from with the centerpiece being the Golden Gate Bridge battle between the police (who have no idea that chimps can climb) and the apes. Along the way, Caesar learns to talk and reinvents fascism.

Overall, it’s a fun popcorn movie that is much better than it has any right to be. There are some plot holes (no pregnancy test for the female chimp?), but it hangs together remarkably well. The most amazing thing to me is that the first 2/3 of the movie is, for the most part, devoid of action and works on setting up the story. Without the prolonged setup, the finale would not have had the same punch. And the final scene is straight from 12 Monkeys(get it, apes..monkeys) and does a great job setting up the inevitable sequel. This isn’t a movie that will win any best picture awards, but as a summer action movie, it’s great. Recommended.